13 Days of Madness

We've all heard of the 12 Days of Christmas... but have you ever heard of the 13 Days of Madness? Let me tell you all about it.
There were 13 days beginning October 26 ending November 7 that were filled with birthdays, sugar, parties, Halloween, sugar, craziness, H1N1, and of course, more sugar!
Let's start at Day 1:

Day 1 {October 26}
Olivia's 13th Birthday
Can we celebrate? No. Why not?? She, Christian and myself are down with the swine flu. DOWN with the swine flu. It hit hard. And ugly. Not a fun way to spend a 13th birthday.
But several dear people in our lives took pity on Olivia and delivered cakes, cupcakes, Popsicles & balloons and made her day so very very special.
{Thank you Jenn, Andy & Cindy, and Cathlena!}







We crawled out of bed to eat dinner which Daddy so graciously prepared {frozen lasagna and garlic bread} and sing Happy Birthday to our teenager. The best was when it came time to blow out candles and she waved them out instead so she didn't spread the piggy germs! Thanks Lu!




Day 4 {October 29}
Morgan's 11th Birthday
Feeling better, I took DQ ice cream sandwiches to her classroom to celebrate her big day... dragging Christian and Delaney along.
We gathered up the energy that night to attend Olivia's school Harvest Party. They served a free dinner and lots of games and prizes. We thought it would be a fun activity on Mo's birthday since her big party was that weekend. By the time we got home, my energy was zapped.



How pretty is that 11 year old smile?!



DQ provided her cake as well... and we added the police paraphernalia in honor of her Fashion Police Halloween costume. We sucked up our Duck pride and decorated for our lone {H} Beaver fan. Grandpa Clyde would be proud!



Day 5 {October 30}
Friday night we dressed up - got all gussied up - and went to the church Trunk or Treat/Halloween Party. I've already posted pics of costumes, but I just gotta put this one on again - just for giggles! :)



Day 6 {October 31}
HALLOWEEN AND the girls' birthday party at the skating rink! AACK!
The girls had a combined birthday party and invited many friends. Much fun was had by all... lots of cake and ice cream... costumes worn... loud music... crazy friends...
Carly and Mom came down. Martin left early to go to the Duck game. Paula showed up for a quick hug! {YAY}
It was a busy busy fun day.





We headed home to get better shoes and coats on to go out Trick or Treating only to have Morgan tell us she doesn't feel good enough to go and to go without her with the little ones. WHAT!?!?! Morgan miss out on Trick or Treating???? Something was very wrong with this picture. So we let her rest with her birthday gifts and were gone around the neighborhood for a bit only to get back and find her temp up over 102°!! NO! Our pediatrician had told us when we took Olivia and Christian in that if anyone else spiked a fever in the near future, it too would be H1N1. Ugh.


Day 7 {November 1}
At some point in the wee hours of the morning, Delaney decided to also spike a fever. After a call into the doctor, Tamiflu was prescribed for D because of her age {high risk group}. Luckily her symptoms were very short lived.

Days 8 - 10
Morgan was down the entire week and missed school. Luckily for her it wasn't a big deal - she's such a smarty pants!

Day 11 {November 5}
Christian turned 4!! But we didn't tell him LOL. His party was scheduled for Saturday, so we just pretended it was any other normal day and that Saturday was his big day.
Still nursing Morgan and Delaney back to health...

Day 13 {November 7}
The end has come! Last day of the madness!!
Christian celebrated his 4th birthday at the pizza parlor with Papa, Zach and Grandma {H}. Sadly, NONE of his little friends were able to come due to fevers. That swine flu was horrid around here. Christian was oblivious to the fact that his friends weren't there. He was thrilled with cake and video games and new toys! {Transformers}



I couldn't love this little man any more. He is the apple of my eye, for sure!



Because I love my monkey man so much, I spent the entire day Friday baking and decorating his Lightning McQueen cake. At one point during the process Christian came in and said to me, "Mommy. I like you that you make my cake." ♥



Zach helps Christian figure out the Transformer.


Our sweet Papa with Delaney... Delaney's face pretty much sums up the Ducks' performance that day against Stanford. Boo.

As one can imagine, by the end of these two weeks, we were pooped. But you know what they say: No rest for the weary! Thanksgiving was just around the corner... to be hosted at OUR HOUSE!

Weekend Update

Saturday: We hit the local high school for a classic car show and ran into many friends... including Miss Kaitlyn showing her daddy's COOL car right behind her.

Morgan got the opportunity to play goal keeper for one quarter in her soccer game. She blocked one goal! Way to go, girlie! Luckily her team played great defense keeping the other team away from the goal most of the time - a relief to Morgan!

Paula came back to town for her baby shower, which I quickly ran into to drop off her present before heading off to Morgan's game. Thankfully she came by afterwards to meet Delaney and chit chat for a couple hours. Miss you so much, Polly!

Sunday: My dad and brother came down for a visit and to meet their new grandbaby and niece. They brought the sweetest outfits and the YUMMIEST meal!! (Thanks Irene! I want recipes!)

Papa with his precious little granddaughter.

Zach loves the baby... although we had to coerce him into holding her.

Hanging with Uncle Zach

Martha, Miriam, Jarom and Ariel come to visit and meet the baby as well. They all took several turns holding her passing her down the line as we chatted Sunday evening. Thanks for visiting, you guys!

Monday: Cinco DeMayo! In honor of this holiday, we made taco salads in tostada bowls I baked in the oven. I got the idea and recipe from Lori's blog and I'm SO glad I did. They were yummers!

All in all, it was a great weekend full of friends and family.

My Papa

Papa and Zach drove down Sunday morning for our Christmas visit. We had SUCH a nice time with them. I had purchased Blueberry Hawaiian bread and Martin was soooo kind and gracious and made us the most delicious, mouth-watering French toast with it. (Is it still called "French" toast if it's made with Hawaiian bread???) Regardless, it was divine. Zach is almost 13 and truly gets along well with his nieces and nephew. The girls and he sat and played video games together all day while Papa, Martin and myself visited and played a mean game of Rummikub.
There's no way to get out a game with lots of little tiles and not expect Mr. Fingers to want to "play", too! So we gave Christian his own board and a bunch of his own tiles and he was a happy boy. Unfortunately, he had all the numbers WE needed... (it took us too long to figure this out - duh!) Thanks for coming down, Pappy! We love you!